Area: 65,300 sq km (25,212 sq mi) Population (2012 est.): 3,171,000 Capital: Vilnius Head of state: President Dalia Grybauskaite Head of government: Prime Ministers Andrius Kubilius and, from December 13, Algirdas Butkevicius Energy independence was a major topic in Lithuania in 2012. In May the government reached an agreement with Russia’s Gazprom and the German firm E.ON Ruhrgas, the two primary shareholders of the Lithuanian natural gas monopoly Lietuvos Dujos, about “unbundling” the company to comply with EU competitiveness guidelines. Although Gazprom and E.ON Ruhrgas would retain ownership of Lietuvos Dujos, the “unbundled” company would be primarily concerned with supplying natural gas, whereas transmission infrastructure, such as pipelines, would pass to a new, possibly state-owned, company. In addition, the Lithuanian government continued to develop a l iquefied-natural-gas port on the Baltic Sea, which was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014. Moreover, work...